I would go a little farther east to Habitat (735 Queen Street West). Fantastic food both times I've been. See if you can get Kevin as your waiter (if he still works there) - that guy was just as great as the food.

There are a number of passable places near Queen & Dufferin - are you looking for anything specific? Brunch vs dinner? Specific ethnic cuisines? There are a couple of decent Ethiopian places, The Gladstone and Rustic Cosmo do great brunch, Rhino has a large (and cheap) beer selection, there's an awesome Vietnamese place at King & Dufferin...

there are good options on both sides of dufferin. to the west, there is a cafe on the south side of queen just across from rustic cosmo that I really like (sorry the name escapes me). very cool decor, inexpensive sandwiches with salads, excellent choice for lunch. the owner told me they were planning on getting a liquor license to open at night (i think the plan is to move across the street) - not sure if that happened yet. cadillac lounge has crappy food, although their calamari starts to taste really good with a pint of guiness. so check out their listings for the weekend, it might be a fun place to take in a show. to as you go further into parkdale, you can get a roti at ali's, if you're looking for a quick tasty meal (also a great option for take out). past lansdowne you could go higher end to cowbell (much debated on chowhound), or get very good pub food at mitzi's sister, or try one of the several tibetan places. there is much in between too,

to the west of dufferin, the price point increases. i won't mention the places past ossington since many have already been listed. beaconsfield has $8 specials every day (althugh not sure if on the weekend). at any rate, their food is much improved, and if you're into comfort food like chili fries, or coconut shrimp this is the place. good beer selection, usually DJs at night, can get quite rowdy and fun at night. the beaver is my perennial favourite. tasty food, no-nosense service, queer-friendly (the current owner used to run the excellent avant-garde vazaleen events), becomes a bar at night. killer americano. the drake has pretty good food, nice service, but since i live in the area, i avoid it on weekends - too crowded, too much 'here to be seen' attitude, the crowd tends to be obnoxious (i realize what to me is obnoxious may be fun to others, so you probably should check it out to see if it's your seem). you may encounter a line up. the cafe section serves the same food, but tends to be quieter (and often where 'the locals' are:)). just east of the drake are two chinese restos (one has been on RM). i'd suggest the other one (queen star). hasn't changed since the 70s, including the prices it seems (but it's clean and the owners are very nice). if you're in the mood for some tasty chinese canadian, or have a serious case of the munchies late at night, this is THE place to be! it's also one of the few survivors of the old queen street, and deserves to be respected. on dovercourt and argyle, just north of queen is a very sweet cafe luna. only open for lunch and brunch. slightly north of there on the west side of dovercourt is a cuban restaurant julie's, a much loved institution in the hood. i'd recommend sharing various apps, rather than their main places, and make sure to have a mojito. finally, there is ossington. a number of options for lunch, dinner and late drinks there, constantly changing. closer to queen is sweaty betty's, a bar. another bar just open opposite from it and a bit north, doesn't seem to have a name posted yet. good vietnamese on the corner of ossington and argyle. a bit north is get real!, a vegetarian cafe. across from is reposado, a new tequila bar - doesn't serve dinner, but offers some apps and cheese plates. further north on the east side is foxley, a very good non-spanish tapas place with an asian focus. they don't take reservations so you may have to get a drink across the street while you wait for your table. i would though. oh yeah, on dundas just west of ossington is communist's daughter, a popular little bar. and finally, just past dundas on east side of ossington is dakota, a new country bar that draws a very mixed crowd (in terms of musical prefernces, ages etc), it's in the basement of the building right at the bus stop. their food is tex-mex, and they serve a communal brunch.

Too bad Salvador Darling is very inconsistent with their hours of operations..everytime i go by it seems like their closed or under going a neverending cycle of renos!i dont know how businesses like this survive..